Prevent and Catch Plagiarism Online: PhonyDiploma.com

Plagiarism is one of the most
serious threats to a student’s education. Since the internet has become such a
large part of everyday life, it’s even easier for students to plagiarize. Online
plagiarism occurs when a student finds a passage on a webpage and then copies it
down to the letter instead of rewording it or even making any attempt to do
their own research. They hand the paper to their teacher, presenting it as their
own and claiming credit for someone else’s work. In this sense, a plagiarist is
a cheater and a thief.

One of the most effective ways of
preventing online plagiarism is to make sure that students know you’re aware
that they can do it. Warn them that you know about the ease by which they can
copy or buy an essay from a website and tell them that you will be checking.
Remind them that there are programs that allow you to check an entire paper with
a simple click of a button. That’s enough to deter most of the students who
would have considered plagiarizing.

It’s a good idea to make sure they
understand how to use information on the internet. Some students don’t realize
they cannot just copy and paste a passage so you have to teach them how to
reword and cite sources. Give non-generic subjects so that in-depth research has
to be performed. Require them to give sources on their research to prove that
they did it.

Just as the internet has grown in
popularity so have programs that allow you to detect plagiarism. Copyscape is
one of the most popular and effective resources used to catch plagiarizers.
There are free tools out there but those programs that you have to purchase
usually do a better job at detecting plagiarism. Teachers can submit their
documents to these sites which will then check everything from academic
databases to websites and forum boards. They can even check any book that’s
available online. These sites can detect if a student has taken an entire essay
from sites where whole research papers can be downloaded free of
charge.

Plagiarism
Statistics: Some statistics of
online plagiarism by the Interactive Media Lab of the University of
Florida.

While plagiarism is becoming easier
because of the internet, it is also becoming easier to detect for the same
reasons. Powerful tools that scour the internet for plagiarized essays or
passages are available for educators. Students must be warned about plagiarism
and punished when they succumb to it. This is crucial for them to take school
seriously and go on to obtain a college diploma.